Period C-drama Yu Ting Yao has Reportedly Fallen Apart with Main Investor Leaving the Project After Months of Billing Jostling Between Leads Wu Jing Yan and Chen Zhe Yun
I’m glad there are finally consequences for these so-called billing order fights between the male and female leads in C-dramas. Unless it’s clear one star is a whole level above the other, nowadays even up-and-comers at times are trying to take top billing over established stars. This situation has apparently now derailed the period C-drama Yu Ting Yao, which had confirmed leads Wu Jing Yan with Chen Zhe Yuan. She was top billed until he was cast and then his side demanded top billing. The production tried to swap out the male lead but the lead investor insisted on Chen Zhe Yuan. It was an impasse for months with filming which was supposed to start in March delayed to May and delayed further to July where we are now, though both leads were as far along as being at the filming set. Yu Zheng who manages Wu Jing Yan has spent the past weeks shading Chen Zhe Yuan online the way he always shades and insults people when he wants his way. Last week reportedly there was a truce called where the leads agreed to be both top billed and there is no billing order. But now industry gossip says the lead investor has bailed and left the project after seeing this all go down, and realizing Yu Zheng being involved is likely going to be problematic going forward. Now the project is dead in the water and both leads have left the filming set. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes all around.
I don’t understand the camp of CZY if this is true cause surely WJY is the more established star between the two of them.
This news is so yesterday. Heh. The drama producer just came forward today and said that the drama script reading has been completed, drama title will revert to the og novel title, and filming will start on Aug.15.
When all happens..it happens. No point speculated now. Wait and see.
Instead of going over billing wars with established leading ladies, a better strategy is to work with less established leading ladies who wouldn’t mind being second billed to him because they are still establishing their careers. This way he doesn’t damage his career with all this negative publicity. It’s not doing him any favors and may even cause his fans to leave him. There are many bankable stars who wouldn’t mind collaborating with him and being second billed so why is his team dragging on top tier actresses who are leading ladies in their own right? Maybe, it’s not just his team, but also him. So instead of advertising this fact, just claim that he is picky with his projects and spare him this unnecessary negative hype, and back pedal quickly when negotiations do not go as planned. Instead of dragging this out.
Maybe the other investors won’t invest in the drama if it’s CZY alone with a less established actress.
I never know what is really the truth but reading about rumours of billing fights Chen Zhe Yuan’s team had with so many actresses… It cannot be good for his image and reputation in the industry. It can reach a point, public may not even care to know the truth anymore.
I’ve never watched CZY and I already don’t like him based on what I read about him. First heard of him through Hidden Love. Correct me if I’m wrong but from what I understand, that was a small hit and Zhao Lusi carried it. He’s average looking to me and I read his acting was pretty greasy. After that, all I see is him fighting about billing with almost every actress. To make things worse, the actresses are all out of his league. They’re either more established or have more name recognition/popularity. I might give him the benefit of the doubt if this happened only once but at this point, he doesn’t interest me enough to seek the truth anymore. Every time I see his name and a billing order fight, I just roll my eyes. Also dislike the idea that you don’t have to work for top billing anymore. Your fans can cry about it and you/your agency can just try to muscle your way to the top.
Yes…Zhao Lusi did carry the drama Hidden Love but since romance is the main theme, it is their chemistry that made this drama popular. Along sides the supporting casts. Chen Zhe Yuan was quite good to watch there.
But I never finished any of his period shows…I have heard his last drama about War in China was good. But I dont like such period shows so I did not watch.
I personally dont think Chen Zhe Yuan is his responsiblity. he is still a relatively new breakout actor. He has worked hard to get to where he is. I dont think it is his agency/team/investors that calls the shots. He has to follow their call. He is not strong enough to make his own decisions.
I see… your explanation may have redeemed him somewhat 😅 but then I think his team needs a different approach because the current one leaves a bad taste to general audience like me who just get tired of seeing him embroiled in billing controversy with his leading ladies.
But such aggressive tactics cannot be healthy for the actors… their image get damaged and many eventually may not want to work with them.
The actor dont even have much say..
Typo: I personally do not think Chen Zhe Yuan is responsible for all these billing fights.
I really appreciate your comment. You’re one of the most unbiased users I’ve seen on this site.
I’ve read your posts in other topics too.
Your comments are always thoughtful and fair toward all actors and actresses, which is quite rare here.
All actors and actresses deserve respect, but what I usually see on this site is people being easily influenced by rumors. Many are quick to hate someone just based on what they’ve heard.
The Chinese entertainment industry can be really absurd at times, people think they “know” so much based on marketing accounts, not even from official sources or credible news outlets.
And yet, so many believe everything they read from some random blogger on Weibo.
You are smart to not be fooled by them.
I was like you, low opinion of the guy from the billing fight news, but I did eventually watched Hidden Love to check out the hype, and I changed my opinion, he was the true MVP of the Hidden Love. First few episodes were cringey, but get past that and the romance was natural and charming.
I look forward to his drama with Li Qin. I also don’t think he is that arrogant to make demands, but who knows what happened behind the scenes.
You can criticize Chen Zhe Yuan all you want, but at least do some fact-checking first.
He’s not always fighting for top billing. In his two most recent dramas, Fated Hearts and Light the Dark, he’s listed second and there was no drama about it. That’s probably why you didn’t notice and assumed he’s always causing trouble. But if you’re not being deliberately blind, you’ll see that many other actors also negotiate for billing positions, it’s not just him.
As for Hidden Love, many people claim it was only successful because of the female lead. But let’s be honest the drama became a hit both in China (reaching a heat index of 10,000 on Youku) and internationally because of the strong chemistry between the leads. If the male lead hadn’t played a significant role, would the drama have become this popular? ZLS’s other dramas after Hidden Love haven’t reached the same level of success.
I respect both ZLS and CZY, they both deserve credit, along with the director and production team.
You’re just too easily swayed by marketing accounts claiming his acting is “greasy” which it’s not, if you watch the drama objectively and without bias. If the majority of the audience truly thought his acting was greasy, Hidden Love wouldn’t have become as popular as it did. And if you actually read the novel, you’d know the character Duan Jiaxu is written to be extremely greasy but CZY toned it down in the drama, making it more natural and watchable. That’s part of why the show is still loved and even re-entering rankings two years later.
@labonita, I did state that I haven’t watched CZY, he doesn’t interest me, and my impression of him is based on what I see about him. Entertainment gossip/rumors aren’t necessarily picked up by official news outlets but that won’t stop the public from choosing what they find credible and forming an opinion on it. I’m not being deliberately blind and even though other actors fight for billing positions, they don’t make the same round of news for it the way CZY does. The general audience usually does not care to do much fact-checking on trivial news like this and that’s why an actor’s reputation should be carefully managed. In this aspect, I think CZY’s team is failing him.
As for the key to Hidden Love’s success and/or whether his acting was greasy or not, like I said, I only read about it because I did not watch that drama. It could be marketing accounts but then again, these two points of discussion are pretty subjective so it can also just be differing opinions.
Anyway, I understand your wish to do him right as his drama fan. All the points you made have been fully noted.
The problem of the industry is those capitalists got sh.tty tastes
Why he’s so obsessed with being top billing when none of his drama was a total top hit?
The funny part, he has agreed being the 2nd billing in a drama with Li Qin, lmao. WJY can carry her own drama without top actors.
CZY’s abilities are so basic to be demanding top billed 😅🤷🏻♂️
You can criticize Chen Zhe Yuan all you want, but at least do some fact-checking before calling him just an “basic” actor. Chen Zhe Yuan has achieved things that even some of the most popular Chinese actors haven’t. Last year, his drama Dark Night and Dawn achieved a CVB rating of over 2 on TV, a rare and significant milestone. To date, it has aired over 30 rounds across major TV and satellite stations in China, consistently maintaining strong ratings. He was also the main lead, with over 70-80% screen time.
If the Chinese audiences didn’t like him or truly thought he was just “basic,” would they have watched the show this much? Unlike some online web dramas that rely heavily on marketing hype, TV audiences are harder to fool. That’s why hitting a CVB rating above 2 is a big deal.
Go ahead and name any other post-95 actor who has achieved that I’ll wait.
I am his drama fan by the way, I got nothing to hide.
@Lu, your comment is naive considering that top Chinese actors generally do not have outstanding abilities, but here we have them.
@Labonita, why do fans pull the popularity/achievements card when talking about talent? LOL. They are completely unrelated, especially in China.
Maybe he has strong backers in his agency or personal life that are insistent in making him first billing for everything. Seems it is kind of working for him though in some ways but it is annoying because his one hit wonder with Zhao lusi will get old real quick and not be enough for that kind of mess. I don’t think it will end anytime with him being gutsy like that though. He would have eased up awhile ago but he has been pretty consistent in doing so. It is making him seem unlikable and a bit arrogant and may turn off further investment and peoples attraction to hire him more in the future, even if it did get resolved.
He is mediocre in all aspects except arrogance and self-importance where he is hitting it out of the park and is only here because ZLS carried Hidden Love and he is riding her coattails.
He already has a terrible reputation but he tried backing off in the last few dramas in order to “fix” that. Anyway, even with his capital backing, he will soon be irrelevant as most of these mediocre nothings whose ego is th esize of the Sun but their talent the size of a pea.
Tell me, how is he arrogant?
Do you even know him or understand what’s really going on behind the scenes?
Has he ever said anything arrogant in an interview?
You speak as if you personally know him well enough to make such a harsh judgment.
He has always said he needs to improve and admits he hasn’t done enough.
He even cut his hair into an undercut just to star in a small mini-drama because he wanted to challenge himself and grow as an actor.
He doesn’t want to stay on the “traffic” path. He’s trying to build real skills and longevity.
Yet some people blindly believe everything they read online and rush to criticize.
People like you are one of the main reasons why so many Korean actors suffer mentally, some even tragically because of baseless rumors and online hate.
You spread negativity without knowing the truth, and that makes you part of the problem.
He generously gave out large red envelopes to C-Netz during Chinese New Year in these recent years. And he was the first who made this trend on Weibo.
If he were truly arrogant and greedy for money, would he have done that?
He’s just an actor who works incredibly hard and doesn’t always demand top billing.
If you think he’s just riding on ZLS’s popularity, go check the MDL rankings, he’s currently #1 even surpass ZLS.
Sorry I also love ZLS but I am telling you the fact.
He has nothing to fix and certainly doesn’t have a terrible reputation.
A truly terrible reputation belongs to someone who is either irrelevant or has committed a serious crime.
Has he committed any crime? No.
So clearly, that’s not the case with him.
Are you getting paid for all the comments? I sure hope so otherwise it is embarrassing.
Cent has no secrets. We all know who is behind him. That is huge money so you really don’t have to waste your time here if you aren’t being paid. They will continue to push him until a better option comes along but that will still set him up for life.
Longevity? Oh my, he got a hair cut and tried to buy good will.
Pity he isn’t using that money to get some acting lessons so that he doesn’t look like a horrible amateur on screen.
Don’t bother writing another novel, I speak Mandarin and trying to sell nonsense to me like you usually try to international audiences won’t work.
MyDramaList means nothing in China. Lol.
Wu Jin Yan is just an adequate actress, the mannerisms of her characters are similar drama after drama. She is lucky to have participated in addictive productions such as Yanxi Palace and The Double.
Both of these actors are so boring idk why they paired them together. Every drama of theirs I’ve watched has been carried by the other lead. And this billing issue is so stupid. CZY always seems to be in the middle of a billing catfight. Like, who cares.
Some people can’t seem to understand when I’m simply asking for evidence why they’re judging an actor as if they know them personally. But they don’t.
They have no solid reason or proof to justify their hate.
It’s just blind hatred.
I’m not embarrassed by what I said, because I’ve never accused anyone based on harsh judgment or mere rumors.
I only trust official news and reliable sources.
And no, I don’t get paid to do this.
What’s that? I speak Mandarin? So what? You do realize translations exist, right?
You don’t need to know Chinese to understand information written in Chinese.
I’ve also seen people insult not just CZY, but WJY too.
Even though I’m a fan of CZY, I’ve never insulted WJY, you can check my past comments.
I respect her as an actress and recognize the meaningful work she’s done.
That’s why I think many people on this site are just toxic.
They hate actors and actresses simply because they want someone to hate, someone they don’t even know.
Only a few users here leave fair, respectful comments, and sadly, that’s a rare thing on this site.
I hate Yu Zheng and thinks he’s an asshole. But if you were to ask me to choose a first billing between the two, it would be Wu Jinyan because Yanxi Palace is a HUGE hit and The Double is a medium one. Chen Zheyuan has a small hit in Hidden Love, but the project this time round is a historical drama and he doesn’t have any memorable works in this genre. Maybe like the comments said Chen Zheyuan really has some powerful investor backing him because everytime I read news about him in Koala, its about billing fights with the most popular actresses.
Here’s a thought, stop with top billing and second billing. Just do equal billing between the FL and ML. Solved.
Neither are reasonably good actors, but Wu Jinyan is the one with star power. That written, there is nothing more to add.